Souls at Play Equine Wellness Center

08/27/2026

💛 When good people believe in the mission, beautiful things happen. 💛

A HUGE thank-you to Jean with Heritage Collection for her incredibly generous donation of fun, fabulous T-shirts to our For the Love of Aria silent auction! 👕🐴✨

We are so grateful for businesses and individuals who choose to stand behind our mission and help us give these beautiful souls the care, safety, and second chances they deserve.

And let’s be honest…who doesn’t love a great T-shirt AND a great cause? 😉

There are some really fun items waiting for you in our silent auction, and every bid helps support the horses of For the Love of Aria Mustang & Burro Rescue. 💕🐎

👉 Go check out the auction, find something you love, and bid for the horses!

Thank you, Jean, for being part of the Aria family and helping us turn generosity into hope. ❤️
Heritage Collection + Horse Rescue = a pretty beautiful combination. 🐴💫

For the Love of Aria's Silent Auction 🐴 helps provide gentle training, daily care, and safe transitions for mustangs and burros and other at-risk…

06/13/2026

🐴🎉 You're Invited! 🎉🐴

Join us for Hooves, Hope & Healing, a birthday celebration honoring StellaLuna, Emmy & Aria while supporting the mission of For the Love of Aria.
📅 Saturday, September 5, 2026
🕛 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍 Aria Across the Slope, Montrose, CO

Enjoy an afternoon of food, fun, horses, and community as we celebrate the healing power of the horse-human connection.

💚 Every ticket helps support our horses and the lives they touch.

Can't attend? There will be other ways to support the cause through donations, sponsorships, and sharing our mission with others. Every act of support helps us continue bringing hope and healing to those who need it most.

We hope you'll join us!

You’re Invited! 🎉

Dust off your boots and join us for an unforgettable afternoon at Aria Across the Slope celebrating the birthdays of StellaLuna, Emmy, and Aria at our Hooves, Hope & Healing Annual Fundraiser!

Enjoy delicious Mexican food, games, drawings, a silent auction, and time with some amazing furry friends while supporting equines in need.

🤠 Ranch Chic Attire Encouraged
Think boots, jeans, turquoise, hats, dresses, and your favorite western flair!

📅 Saturday, September 5, 2026
⏰ 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍 Montrose, Colorado

🎟 Tickets:
Adults (17+) – $40
Children (4-16) – $15
Children 3 & Under – Free
Family of 4 – $100

✨ Each adult ticket includes 5 drawing tickets for the item of your choice!

🌮 Mexican Food/Drinks
🐴 Meet the Mustangs
🎟 Silent Auction
🎁 Drawings
🎉 Games & Family Fun

👢 Closed-toe shoes are required for anyone wishing to interact with the horses.

Come celebrate, connect, and help us give more equines the gift of hope, healing, and second chances.

🐴 Three Birthdays. One Mission. Endless Hope. 🩵💜

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/hooves-hope-and-healing

05/29/2026

What if the masterpiece isn't hidden by the flaws... but revealed through them?

I recently came across the story of the block of marble that became Michelangelo's David. Before it became one of the most famous sculptures in the world, it had been rejected by multiple artists who believed it was too flawed to be useful.

Sometimes the most beautiful things emerge when someone is willing to look beyond the scars, the labels, and the imperfections to see what is still possible.

I shared more thoughts about perspective, horses, healing, and hidden potential in my latest blog.
❤️ Read it here: https://trishlay.com/blog/f/perspective

I heard a story the other day that really made my blog mind think.

05/11/2026

There is something so sacred about witnessing the love between a mother and her baby — even in the animal world. Pandora’s grief, devotion, and tenderness remind us that horses do not simply survive… they feel, they bond, they mourn, and they love with extraordinary depth.

Hope’s life may have been brief, but her spirit clearly touched countless hearts and created something far bigger than one story. What a beautiful way to honor her — turning heartbreak into hope for future equines who may one day need a fighting chance.

Hope’s story may be over, but the compassion she awakened continues on. If you feel moved to support the Hope Memorial Fund, your donation will help provide urgent medical care for horses and foals who may one day need their own miracle. Thank you for standing beside rescue — not only in the beautiful moments, but in the hard ones too 💫

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hope-memorial-fund-helping-the-next-equine-in-crisis?attribution_id=sl:f8db4fa8-a397-4183-b55b-4b2e44a40532&lang=en_US&ts=1778505607&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp17_tc-amp20_control&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

04/29/2026

My mother is in the twilight chapter of life, and I am learning what it means to stand in that sacred in-between space as a daughter, caregiver, and woman still becoming.

This piece explores motherhood, adoption, old wounds, complicated love, generational healing, and the freedom that comes when we learn to keep the love and release the pain.

If you’ve ever had a complicated relationship with a parent… if you’ve ever loved someone and hurt at the same time… if you’ve ever wondered how healing happens when the past cannot be changed… this one is for you.

I’d be honored if you read it. 💛

My mother is in the twilight chapter of life. And I am in the chapter where daughters become witnesses.

04/18/2026

There’s a difference between being present… and living in the “what is.”
One still resists.
The other asks us to let go.
I’m learning that lesson in real time right now—through caregiving, uncertainty, and a life that looks very different than I planned.
And somehow… the horses understand it better than I do.
I shared a little of that here 🤍

I love this time of year. Mojave is changing colors, the horses have their heads down longer in the pasture, moving slower, softer with the season. There’s a quiet beauty in it.

04/18/2026

There’s something about horses that don’t lie.
They don’t pretend. They don’t perform.
They simply are.
And when you stand in that kind of truth…
you don’t get to hide either.
This work—this kind of horsemanship—
isn’t about control.
It’s about presence.
It’s about learning to listen in a way most of us never have.
I’ve seen what happens in these pens.
Walls come down.
Confidence rises.
And something shifts—not just in the horse… but in the human standing beside them.
What Anna Twinney teaches isn’t just about mustangs.
It’s about relationship.
It’s about trust.
It’s about becoming someone worth following—without ever asking.
If you’ve ever felt the pull toward something deeper…
this might be it.
From wild… to willing…
and everything in between.
🌿🐴
(Details in the post below 👇)

🐴🌿 WHERE WILD MEETS WILLING… AND EVERYTHING CHANGES 🌿🐴

We are incredibly honored to host something truly special this summer…

✨ Anna Twinney is coming to For the Love of Aria. ✨

For over 25 years, Anna has stepped into spaces most people wouldn’t—with horses others couldn’t reach… couldn’t touch… couldn’t understand.

And instead of force… she chose something different.

She listened. 🙏

From mustangs captured off the open range…
to foals learning their very first moments of trust…
to horses who have known fear, confusion, and survival…

Her work is about something deeper.

Connection.
Understanding.
And giving horses a voice.

🤠 MUSTANG MASTERCLASS — 6-Day ROTH Clinic

📅 June 16–21
📍 Kiowa, Colorado

This is not just a clinic…
It’s an immersive experience that will change the way you see horses and yourself.

✨ What you’ll walk away with:

• The ability to read a horse’s body, breath, and energy
• Confidence to create safety without force
• A deeper understanding of what mustangs have been through
• Tools to build trust through communication—not control
• A connection that goes far beyond traditional horsemanship

This work is about learning to dialogue, not dominate.
To meet horses where they are…
and to become someone they can trust.

And we have seen firsthand—
✨ lives change in these pens. ✨

💫 Spots are limited for this experience, register now!! 👇

📩 [email protected]
🔗 https://reachouttohorses.com/event/mustang-spectacular/

For additional information about the clinic, lodging, etc. contact Gina at 303-517-3428 or [email protected]

From wild…
to willing…
to something truly extraordinary 🐴🌿

04/17/2026

Some stories break your heart and widen it at the same time.
A reminder of how deeply they feel, how quietly they carry pain… and how love sometimes means letting go. 🤍

💖🤍Foal Friday🤍💖

Her last day💔🤍

This part is gut wrenching and so beautiful all at the same time😭 There truly is no way to understand unless you have lived through it but I’m going to do my best to explain why💖

The logistics- I was there when they did the dressing change and follow up radiographs. Then I was taken into a room to compare radiographs from two days prior. And the difference was significant. So we talked through lots of scenarios and about possibly taking her back to the OR to do a scope to get clearer answers. Could I tell she was finally acting tired? Yes. And she was not eager to drink her milk that morning. But in my “heart” I still wanted a clearer answer. So I left to make some phone calls, talk through different scenarios and just “feel” it all. Then we decided the long term prognosis was not fair so the kindest thing would be to let her go💔

So I called LEMC and asked if we could pick a time for the next day as several people wanted to say goodbye and I was awaiting a return call. The call came in but it was not to schedule for the next day. It was the internal med doctor who said “she is showing signs of colic, how fast can you get back here”😭

Honestly I don’t remember the drive. What I do remember is all the people who sat in the corner of the stall with me. How she laid her head in the vets lap. How she was surrounded by love and simply closed her eyes🤍 How she knew it was time💔💖

Throughout the day that day my only lingering thought was “I just wish the answer was more clear”. So Hope chose to make it more clear. Just like Alley had eight years ago🥺

Then the necropsy made it even more clear💔 Not only was her tendon sheath necrotic, the amount of infection in the joints was dramatic and there was a hole in her coffin bone. There was no chance of recovery. We now knew and everything was much clearer.

Does that make it any easier? For us, yes. Not emotionally. My heart breaks over and over everyday. But we finally understood how much pain she had to be in. Yet she was bright eyed, bearing weight, and until her final hours, drinking her milk so well there was no way to see the amount of pain.

And this is what WE need you to KNOW. They are SO stoic. There was enough information for us to make the decision. And it would not have been wrong to get more information. But because of their expertise, they knew what was most likely in there. But even they weren’t sure until they were. So we trusted them and now we know. And they were right. And we are glad we know because wondering is so hard.

Why do I tell you this? Because information is powerful and choosing to ignore it is not ethical. No one wants to live their life in pain. Did she go out on a good day? No. But she gave us time to understand what needed to happen then she made the decision easier for us😭

And a gift like that? Could only come from an angel who was sent here to teach us💖🤍

If you donated, shared our posts, prayed for Hope and us, sent messages checking in, messages of love and strength . . . .

Please know you are part of her story forever🩷 And maybe one day what she taught us will help another equine you know💚 And you will think of Hope😭🤍💫

This is the picture that made her look like an angel on earth and how we will forever see her🪽

Hope we’ve got your mama down here🥰 Please give all of our mamas and babies up there a hug for us💕

See you on the other side brave and beautiful girl💛

04/15/2026

This one has hit me harder than I can quite explain.

Maybe it’s because she was just so young.
Maybe it’s because she was a little wild mustang—so feisty, so full of spirit.
Maybe it’s because her mother didn’t get the chance to say goodbye… and will never truly know what happened to her foal.

Her name is Hope.
Not by accident. Not by coincidence.

There is something about these wild ones… even the smallest among them. They don’t always stay long—but they never leave empty. They leave something behind. A reminder. A shift. A quiet kind of strength that doesn’t ask permission to exist.

She didn’t just pass through our hands… she left something in them.
Maybe the reason this one hurts so much… is because her name is Hope. And right now, that’s the one thing that feels both fragile and necessary in my own life.

Horses have a way of reminding us—over and over again—that forward isn’t always easy… but it is always possible.

They fall.
They fight.
They get back up.
They keep going.

So we will too.
For her.
For all of them.

For the part of us that still believes in something better, even when we can’t quite see it yet.

Her life was short.
Her impact wasn’t.

Her name was Hope… and maybe, just maybe, she left a little of it behind for all of us to carry forward.

04/02/2026

This is what “doing whatever it takes” looks like.
A newborn filly.
Emergency surgery.
$15–20k in vet care.
And a whole lot of fight.
She’s mustang tough… but she still needs us.
If you can help—please do.
If you can’t—please share.
Let’s stand in the gap for her. 🩵💜